A Rapid, Reusable Spaceplane

Boeing and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are collaborating to design, build and test a technology demonstration vehicle for the agency’s Experimental Spaceplane program. The spaceplane—called Phantom Express—would reinvent space missions for commercial and government customers by providing rapid, aircraft-like access to space. Within minutes, the autonomous, reusable spaceplane would launch its upper stage to deploy small satellites into low Earth orbit. It would then land on a runway to be prepared for its next flight.